The Portland daily press., 1887-03-18

express busineSslas matter for which rail-
road companies are responsible to the public.
In regard to the adoption Of uniform clasSi-
hcation for local freight business it was
generally agreed that while such classiica-
ton would be a good thing New England
roads would find it almost impossible to
accomplish it,
THE FOREST HILL DISASTER.
Still Investigating the Cause of the
Accident.
BosToN, March 1.-THE Railroad Com
missioners resumed the investigation into
the causes of the Forest Hills accident today
Edward Lang, chief car inspector, who has
worked with the company since lS47, and
held his present position since 1858, was the
| first witness. He said the cars on the Ded-
ham branch were inspected by two of my
men every trip at Boston. They do this
every time, and examine the ears underneath
and outside. There is a third man, who goes
through the inside of the cars. They exam
inc all the wheels and look for loose nuts.
They sometimes strike the wheel, but that is
not safe rule to go by The wheels should
be examined by the light, and we have torch
es made specially for that purpose. The
axle cannot be seen. A wheel might riug
even after st is worn out. The men examine
everything. | have, think, written letter
from the superintendent to carefully exam
Inc each car and not to run any risks. The
cars were as good as any we have. The
smoker was a combination. No 1was per-
haps built 10 or 20 years ago. 1t has been
kept in good repair All the cars are taken
into the shop once year for repairs. had
not received any report that any of these
cars were defective lately. The train was
last examined between and o'clock ON the
afternoon previous. do not know how the
train is made up. We take on two extra
cars on the 6.10 o'clock train Saturday night
| ink that is on account of Sunday trains.
MY men are there to inspect these cars be-
lore they are put on. The two cars are taken
from the Providence train. The men who
are inspectors are not taken from the car
shops, and are not necessarily trained me-
chanlcs. They have to learn their business
like other people. | do not know whether
these cars were used on Sunday. Ihave
man on duty on Sunday to examine cars.
George f. Folsom, superintendent of
bridges, testified he had had the care of the
bridges on the Providence road for % years.
Examined all the bridges and every part of |
them in the fall and spring. Every point is
examined, and the connecting rods are all |
sounded to see if they are defective. The |
ly examined by the witness Feb. 10Th last. |
Inc bridge Is one of peculiar construction, |
because it Is of many pieces. The witness |
then gave history of the bridge, its recon- |
structlon into an iron bridge The bridge |
had truss designed for 5000 pounds per lin |
ear foot. The truss was put in in 1876. AZ |
ter the repairs were made to the old bridge.it |
was tested with two locomotives run slowly |
across the bridge. Both engines were run |
over the south truss, and the average deflec- |
ton was 5-16 Each engine weighed "a, 900 |
pounds, the tender q, ,230, water 2l $50, coal |
5000 The original rate of speed over the |
bridge was 10 or II miles, but the witness |
would not have been afraid to go over it fifty |
miles an hour. The bridge was diagonal |
one; The only particular strain ON such a |
Drldge Is on the end, where one side of the |
engine touches the bridge before the other |
side does. Such bridges can never be made |
easy riding. Knew of no passenger express
ing anxiety In regard to the safety of the |
bridge on the train The quality of the iron |
called Tor in the contract for its construction |
was superior, but the witness had left that |
entirely with Hewins, the bridge builder |
The bridge was tested in the presence of |
HeWlns and several witnesses. No expert |
enced engineers were present, and the bridge |
had never been inspected since then by |
civil engineer. In rebuilding the witness |
should recommend a change of the highway |
and the putting in of an arch. The witness |
drew the specifications for the bridge. The |
witness had no knowledge of ever repairing |
any cracks in the structure. and never, he |
thought, made any repairs upon it, except to |
replace nuts and BOLTS. Had always consid- |
cred It substantial bridge in every particu-
lar had examined IT repeatedly, and never
remember OF having found any part of il TO /
to fail, except the disturbance OF a nut on a |
little counter rod. The bridge was nearly |
all of wrought iron. The witness was of the |
opinion that the cause of the accident was a |
derallment OF some sort, and the cars falling |
backward must have taken the bridge down |
with them. There certainly could not have |
Deen Dreakage near the end of the bridge |
After recess Harlan W. Brock testified that |
ne ne mad had been In the habit of visiting West |
RoXbury.- In the early spring in 1889 riding |
under the bridge, he noticed some loose nuts |
hanging down from the bridge and rods |
from which nuts were broken off. He noti- |
ned young man in the superintendent's Of
nee and he said that the matter would be
looked after. He subsequently noticed that
trains slowed down on the bridge to a mans
walking pace. Some time afterward he no.
tced that the defect had not been remedied
and more nuts were off, and he visited the
superintendent's Office second time. He
was told by a young man that he Brock
was borrowing good deal of trouble about
that bridge, that the loose nuts had been
louna ea 70 9e Oh no consequence, and that If he
testimony occasiOned no little sensation in
the room.
Edmund II. Hewins, of Boston, builder of
the west truss in 1876 was in business for
hlmself, although hoping to form company,
he adopted the name metropolitan Bridge
Company, but 1t was never formed. He
was educated at Lawrence scientific school.
cambridge, then going with the Detroit
He designed the drawbridge of the Chicago,
burlington and Quincy Railroad over the
Mississippi river, and several others on that
llne, ana on the Illinois Central road and
some elsewhere. The Bussey bridge was the
last he built, and since then he has been en-
gagged as a consulting engineer The main
tension bars of the Bussey bridge were made
by the Phoenix Pennsylvania Iron Works,
the balance of the work was made by the
Trenton n. J. Iron Company from his de-
signs. de then described the dimensions
technically. 1t was intended to carry 5000
pounds to each lineal foot, and was fully
capaDie OF thar strain. and allowances were
made for even greater. The work was done
In conformity with the specifications. The
corner blocks were of cast iron The broken
one was as good for service to-day as it ever
was. The bridge builders do not always in
spect every piece of iron that is put into
their work, though they may some of it.
There are inspectors for that duty. The
Phoenix company follow that plan. No in
spection Of the Bussey bridge was made on
behalf of the company that he knew of. He
lhew'ns) inspected it as much as any bridge
tnat was built was inspected. The hangers
were In such positions that they could be
only partially examined. He considered it a
correct form OF construction. He supposed
that all builders exposed all parts of bridge
tnat they could where it was necessary In
| fact II was desirable to expose every thing
possible ne where 1t would not interfere with
more mort important requirements. The only test
| made was at the finish:
Being asked what, in his opinion, was the
Individual cause of the accident the witness
Ieplleu' am unable TO make up my mind
as to what the individual cause was. In
general believe it must have been either
derallment or breakage of some part of the
rolling stock, which let it down upon the up
per cord, striking the joint block and over
turning the whole thing. / think that
blow would have done it. have no opinion
| what it was that broke"
The breaks in the hanger evidenced to the
| witnesses mind the leverage which it gets
4 from the floor beam. They were fresh breaks
and he thought they were caused by fall
He thought neither of the hangers was brok-
en- before the accident happened
Mr.. Kinsley-You built bridge on the
Boston q Maine, didn't your
Ayes sir
Mr.. kinsley-Is it standing nowe
| A.-No, sir,
Mr.. Kinsley-Where is It?
Alt was knocked down by train that
was off the track.
Mr.. Kinsley--Where was it?
Al can't say. 1t was on the Boston &
Maine extension.